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End of MESSENGER: First probe to orbit Mercury impacts planet [i]The first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, is no more. On Thursday (April 30), NASA's MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft impacted the small planet at more than 8,750 miles per hour (14,080 kilometers per hour). The probe hit the planet at about 3:26 p.m. EDT (1926 GMT) on the side facing away from the Earth, leaving a crater about 52 feet (16 meters) across, based on pre-impact estimates. The collision came as a result of MESSENGER depleting its propellant after almost 11 years. Mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, exhausted the last of the craft's reserves with an orbit correction maneuver last Friday (April 24).[/i]
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